Zakaria Boufassil, 26, was found guilty of supplying £3,000 to Mohamed Abrini, who became known as The Man in the Hat, after he was caught on CCTV moments before the attacks on Brussels airport earlier this year.

A jury of six men and six women at Kingston Crown Court, in south west London, found Boufassil guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism.

The court heard that the money had mistakenly been paid into the bank account of another Belgian, Anouar Haddouchi by Birmingham City Council despite the fact he had left Britain to join Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Mohamed Ali Ahmed has already pleaded guilty to funding terrorism

Haddouchi fled his rented home in Birmingham in December 2014 and travelled to Syria.

But the council continued to pay his monthly housing benefit into his Lloyds TSB Islamic bank account every month until November 2015.

In July last year, Abrini travelled to Birmingham where he collected £3,000 that had been withdrawn from Haddouchi's account by Ali.

Abrini was an associate of Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam, who organised the Paris terror attacks in November 2015 and is suspected of taking part.

He is also thought to be behind the attacks on Brussels Airport in March.

Abrini became known as the Man in the Hat after being spotted with two suicide bombers at Brussels airportCredit:
PA

Boufassil had denied knowing that the money was to be used for terrorist purposes and looked stunned as the verdict was delivered.

During the trial, he had told the court he was a cannabis user and a "moderate and tolerant" Sufi Muslim who considered members of Isil as "worse than animals".

Boufassil and Ali will be sentenced on December 12.

The attack on Brussels airport killed 17 people

Following the conviction Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, counter terrorism lead for West Midlands Police, said: "The conviction of these two men is significant for the UK as it identified a dangerous link to Abrini and Abaaoud.

"Their conviction sends a clear message to those who fund terrorism that they will be prosecuted and potentially face lengthy prison sentences.

"We know that Abrini visited several locations during his visit to the UK, but that his sole purpose of being here was to collect the money and our case - whilst not focused on attack planning - acts as a reminder of why our work to prepare for and prevent such incidents in the UK is important.

"We will continue to work with our partners in MI5 and the wider counter terrorism network to prioritise our resources against the cases that pose the most risk to the public - this includes funding and facilitating terrorism which is a significant element of the counter terrorism effort."